Great News!!!

Hello everyone,

There must have been a lot of people holding good thoughts for Dane today, because it has been a great day! Dane had his Day 15 bone marrow test this morning (his third week in a row for this test) and it went very smoothly. He remained very calm when the IV was put in, even though it had to be done twice (his vein flattened the first time). He told the nurses they could do it when HE was ready and only after HE had counted to three. Now that he is feeling better, the doctors and nurses are starting to see the real Dane. For those of you who know him well, you will realize that is the Dane with some attitude and edge! As has been the case the past two procedures, he handled the sedation very well again today.

The high point of Dane's day was picking where he got to go for lunch after having fasted since 8:30 pm last night. All you south enders will appreciate his choice - George's Burgers. He polished off an entire adult size cheeseburger, french fries and a banana milkshake! This was only an hour or so after having three pieces of toast in the hospital. My stomach just ached watching him eat that meal.

The high point of our day was receiving a call from the Oncology nurse advising that Dane's Day 15 bone marrow count was 0.3% (it was 8% last Thursday) and after only two weeks, he is in REMISSION!!! This is an outstanding result, as anything less than 5% at this time is considered remission and his liquid bone marrow is almost zero. Given this result, he is classified as an "Early Rapid Responder" (ERR). His treatment for the next several months will be based upon being an ERR and the long and short is ERR's generally have a higher cure rate. So the combination of his low white count at diagnosis, his age (being under 10) and his status as an ERR all bodes very well for a successful outcome. It doesn't shorten his treatment, he will still need three years of cancer therapy, however we are hopeful it will be a less intensive regimen with a reduced risk of relapse along the way.

We will hope for an uneventful next week so he can stay away from the hospital until his Cancer Clinic appt next Friday. I will continue to "home school" him for the next couple of weeks to do our best to avoid him picking up any colds/flus (the school is full of them right now).

Our Dane is feisty and a fighter. For being just seven, he has shown great maturity and he and Ashley understand the significance of today's news. We had a great big family hug, shed a few happy tears and then smiled more than we have in a few weeks.

Thanks for the continued support - Janie and Dirk